For Spike Lee, an Honorary Oscar, but Diversity Takes Center Stage

LOS ANGELES — “We can talk, you know, yabba, yabba, yabba, but we need to have some serious discussion about diversity, and get some flave up in this!” Spike Lee admonished members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as he accepted an honorary Oscar at a black-tie banquet in Hollywood on Saturday night.

“This industry is so far behind sports, it’s ridiculous,” Mr. Lee continued. “It’s easier to be president of the United States as a black person than be head of a studio. Honest.”

And so it went, as the film academy — stung by fierce criticism of its failure to nominate any black actors or directors in the last round of Oscar voting — used its annual Governors Awards to face its diversity issues head on.

As the evening began, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the Academy’s president, set the tone with a speech about inclusiveness, and the disclosure of a five-year plan, called “A2020,” to broaden the demographics of the group’s membership, staff and governing board.

“I’m asking you tonight, directly, to be our partner,” said Ms. Isaacs, having voiced her pleasure to be honoring two women — Gena Rowlands and Debbie Reynolds — and a black man, Mr. Lee.

“Now please enjoy your dinner,” she added, to polite applause.

It was not the only serious moment during a ceremony that is more typically marked by reminiscence and boozy back-patting. Attendees also voiced solidarity with those in Paris after the terror attacks there on Friday. “Peace and love to the people in France,” Mr. Lee said, near the end of his 18-minute address.

Whether the tone of self-admonition will spill into the Feb. 28 Oscar broadcast, to be hosted by Chris Rock and co-produced by Reginald Hudlin with David Hill, remains to be seen. But it made for a subdued ceremony on Saturday, as Zooey Deschanel struggled through a rendering of Ms. Reynolds’s signature hit, “Tammy,” from 1957, and Jane Fonda, somewhat surprisingly, provided one of the few attempts at levity.

Ms. Reynolds, who received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, was brave enough, cracked Ms. Fonda, “to persuade her daughter Carrie that she suffers from mental illness, knowing it would be good for the cause.” It was a joke about Ms. Reynolds’s work for the Thalians, a mental health charity and the personal struggles of her daughter, Carrie Fisher, who has addressed her travails on screen, on the stage and in best-selling books.

As for diversity, no white male took the stage until 2 hours and 24 minutes into the ceremony, when the writer-director Nick Cassavetes rose to introduce his mother, Ms. Rowlands.

Mr. Cassavetes had been preceded by Ms. Isaacs, Ms. Fonda, Ms. Deschanel, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Laura Linney and Billie Lourd. And he was followed by Aloe Blacc, Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson and Wesley Snipes in advance of Mr. Lee — who redefined “black tie,” wearing a blue velvet jacket, orange glasses, a beret, a silver cross, and what he said were special Oscar edition Air Jordans.

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The director Spike Lee, center, accepts an honorary Oscar with presenters Wesley Snipes, left, and Denzel Washington in Hollywood on Saturday.CreditMonica Almeida/The New York Times

Mr. Lee noted that his career started with a student Academy Award for his thesis film, “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads.” Later, he was nominated for two competitive Oscars, one in 1990, for writing “Do the Right Thing,” and another in 1998, as producer of the documentary “4 Little Girls,” with Samuel D. Pollard.

But “nothing’s changed” when it comes to race in Hollywood, he said, echoing a remark from Mr. Washington, who stood behind him.

Questions about race have dogged the Academy for decades, with the sharpest criticism focused on the more than 6,000 voters. The Academy keeps the identities of voters private, but news organizations that have scrutinized the roster over the years found that balloters, before a recent push to diversify membership, were more than 90 percent white.

While the Academy was praised in 2014 for its attention to “12 Years a Slave,” which was nominated for nine Oscars and won three, including best picture, the organization found itself again facing questions about its lack of diverse honorees in the lead-up to the 2015 ceremony.

In particular, the Academy was criticized for failing to recognize the civil rights drama “Selma,” a best picture nominee, in the directing or acting categories. Moreover, no black actor was among the 20 acting nominees for the most recent Oscars.

Mr. Lee, 58, could seem a bit young for an honorary award that comes as his career is still in full swing. His latest film is “Chi-Raq,” an urban musical satire set for release on Dec. 4 by Amazon Studios with Roadside Attractions. (The Chicago mayor, Rahm Emanuel, has particularly objected to the title, which conflates “Chicago” and “Iraq” in a reference to the gun violence in that city.)

Still, Mr. Lee is considerably older than Charlie Chaplin was when he received the first honorary Oscar, in 1929 at the age of 40. Walt Disney was 30 when he picked up the next one, in 1932. Shirley Temple was all of 6 when she received the third, in 1935.

Ms. Rowlands is 85. Ms. Reynolds, who is 83, did not attend because she was recovering from surgery, the Academy said.

On Saturday, the predinner cocktail gathering was light on glad-handing, with some studio executives glumly discussing the Paris attacks and acknowledging some queasiness about a self-congratulatory evening.

Films already considered Oscar front-runners — “Room,” about the resiliency of the human spirit, or “Spotlight,” about the resiliency of old-fashioned journalism — were well represented. Awards operatives from 20th Century Fox, camped near the middle of the ballroom, carefully spread the attention between three films that will each receive a major push: “The Revenant,” a western starring Leonardo DiCaprio; “The Martian”; and David O. Russell’s coming “Joy,” loosely based on the life of the woman who invented the Miracle Mop.

Mr. DiCaprio and the director of “The Revenant,” Alejandro González Iñárritu, were absent, but nearby a full contingent from “Black Mass,” including the director Scott Cooper and the stars Johnny Depp and Joel Edgerton, dutifully represented their picture, an indication that Warner Bros. plans to give that Boston mob drama a major awards push despite the film’s so-so performance at the box office.

“Say ‘Cheers’ — or ‘Vote for me!’” said Ms. Blanchett, cutting to the chase as she gave the crowd instructions for a group photo before presenting part of Ms. Rowlands’s award. (Ms. Blanchett is considered a favorite for her portrayal of an erudite lesbian in the 1950s-set “Carol,” coming soon.)